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H. T. PRATT.

REMOVABLE WOODEN TREAD FUR STONE STEPS. No. 247,106. Patented Sept. 13,1881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY T. PRATT, or NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO oHARLEs E. PRATT, or;

FLATBUSH, N. Y.

REMOVABLE WOODEN TREAD FOR STONE STEPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,106, dated September 13, 1881.

Application filed J annary 31, 1881.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY T. PRATT, of the city and State of New York, have invented a-n Improvementin Removable WVooden Treads for Stone Steps, of which the following is a specification.

in many places the broad stone steps to dwellings and public buildings are dangerous in winter in consequence of ice and snow, and wooden treads are laid upon the same and an extra hand-rail provided. These wooden treads are portable; but usually considerable timeis consumed in putting them down in the fall and removing them again in the spring.

My present invention is for rendering each tread firm upon the stone step,aud for holding the same down, and for supporting a hand-rail, and at the same time allowing the whole to be easily taken apart and removed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation endwise of the treads. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the two lower treads, and Fig. 3 is an elevation in larger size of the connecting-sleeve for the baluster.

The treads are made of wood of a suitable length and width, and each tread a has two or more dowels, b, in the lower surface thereof, which perform three duties. These dowels should be of hard wood introduced into transverse holes that pass across the bottom of each tread, the holes being bored so that the lower portions of the dowels project below the bottom surface of the tread. These dowels keep the treads from warping. They also raise the wood sufficiently up from the stone of the step to allow water to run upon the stone and beneath the wood, so that the tread will dry much quicker than it would it the lower surface were in contact with the stone; and, further, the back ends of the dowels are allowed to project sufficiently to keep the back edge of the tread from contact with the surface of By making these dowels of a sufficient length the treads can be litted to various widths of stone steps by sawing off the back ends of such dowels more or less, so that the outer edge of the removable tread is above the edge of the stone step.

The wooden tread that comes upon the top step or landing is to be fitted securely to its place by the ends being notched to set against theiron railing, or by any other convenient fastening suitable to the particular steps. The

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other removable treads are not as long as the stone steps, so as to be free from the iron railing or balustrade.

I make use of a tension-rod, e, that is hooked beneath the molding of the bottom step at f, and its upper end provided with atighteningscrew, g, and the said tension-rod rests upon the baluster-sluds it that project from the respective removable treads a. The studs h that are upon the middle steps are the longest, and above and below the studs are shorter, so that the tension-rod e is curved upward, and by its strain presses the treads downward and backward and holds all the treads in place on the stone steps. This tension-rod may be round or flat. I prefer the former, and I use sleevejoints 70 is upon the upper end of each balusterstud h, such sleeve-joints being slotted for the rod 6 to pass through. The upper end of the rod 6 passes through an an gle-iron, l, on the tread of the top step, and is set up tightly by a nut.

The lower ends of the baluster-studs h are to be inserted into thimbles or sockets upon the treads, so as to be removable, and into the sleeves 70, above the rod 6, the rail-studs m are inserted to support the hand-rail n. It will be apparent that these removable treads and hand-rail can be put down with facility, or taken up and packed away when not needed.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the removable wooden treads l'or stone steps, of the tensionrod 0, a hook at one end to engage the bottom stone step, a tightening-nut at the upper end, and baluster-studs upon the respective treads, against which the tension-rod acts to keep the treads in place, as set forth.

2. The slotted sleeves 7c, baluster-studs h, ten sion-rod c, hand-rail n, rail-studs m, and removable treads, substantially as set forth.

3. The removable -wooden treads for stone steps, having dowels that run across such treads and project at one side below the tread and at the back end behind the back edge of the treads, for the purposes and as set forth.

Signed by me this 24th day of January, A.

HENRY T. PRATT. Witnesses: 1

GEO. T. PINOKNEY, OHAs. H. SMITH. 

